It is the usual practice in the installation of an electric meter at the point of use to provide a box into which extend the incoming and out-going electrical cables and to apply to the face of this box the meter for reading the amount of consumption. The box is provided with an annular flange and the meter is provided with a similar flange, the two flanges being held together by a nut and bolt which allows the band to be clamped tightly around the flanges and hold the meter firmly in place. In recent years, however, it has been necessary to lock the band in place, so that it could not be removed. This has come about, because of the fact that many unauthorized persons have been entering the meter box and "bypassing" the meter, thus using electricity without it being recorded in the meter. Also, there has been some vandalism that takes the form of removing the meter and damaging it. Also, an important problem is encountered because of the fact that some customers remove the meter and replace it in inverted condition so that the meter operates in reverse and gives a low reading. In addition, there have been those who actually steal the meter itself for their own purposes. In order to counteract these tendencies, it has been necessary to provide a lock to hold the ends of the band together to prevent removal of the meter from the box. At one time it was only necessary to provide a lock having a seal, so that it would be evident that the lock has been tampered with, but it has been found that a simple seal is often not sufficient to discourage those who wish to gain entry to the meter and the meter box. One of the problems that has been encountered in attempting to design a practical lock for this purpose has been the fact that, if an edge of the band is available and accessible, it is possible to cut the band with a pair of strong tin snips or aircraft shears. Furthermore, while many ingenious locks have been conceived for this purpose, most of them are quite expensive and, because of a complexity of their mechanism, they have been relatively difficult to install or remove even by the legitimate meter technician. After all, part of the problem is the fact that, even though the would-be thief is not able to dismantle the lock and the band, nevertheless he can do so much damage to the lock that is difficult for the legitimate electrical installer to later obtain access to the meter. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a meter lock which is relatively easy for an authorized person to install or remove.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a meter lock which is simple in construction and which can withstand a considerable amount of abuse without being rendered inoperative.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a meter lock which is inexpensive to manufacture and which is capable of a long life of useful service with a minimum of maintenance.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a meter lock which shows the presence of tampering.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a meter lock which, from the nature of its design, is capable if being constructed of a small number of very strong, simple, and rugged parts.
Another object of this invention is the provision of a meter lock consisting of a small number of readily-replaceable elements.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.